PHILLIES FILES: Phillies part ways with another reliever

The Phillies announced Tuesday afternoon that the Blue Jays claimed reliever David Herndon off waivers.

Herndon had been on the 60-day disabled list most of the season before being activated recently, and then he was placed on waivers.

After originally landing on the DL April 30 with right elbow inflammation, Herndon actually then had Tommy John surgery in June.

Herndon, who turned 27 in September, made only five appearances this season before his year came to a close for him. In those outings, he had a 4.70 ERA (4 ER, 7.2 IP).

It wasn't all bad for Herndon, who the Phillies actually took in the Rule 5 Draft.

In his first 11 games of the 2011 season, Herndon posted a 9.28 ERA (11 ER, 10.2 IP) with an opponents batting average of .350.

OK. That's not so good. But he straightened himself out during a 16-day demotion to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, which was followed by a brief promotion to Philly (where he made three scoreless appearances) before being sent back to Allentown on May 26, 2011.

"It bothered me," he told me last spring. "I was up here for a month. My confidence was about as low as it could get. I knew I had to just work hard and be confident [in Triple-A] because I was beating myself up about everything [when I was in Philly]."

While he was with the IronPigs, then-pitching coach Rod Nichols (he's since been promoted to Philadelphia) re-iterated that to have better command of his pitches, particularly when it came to keeping the ball down, he had to stop moving his hands, a habit that's hindered him on and off for years.

By June 4, Herndon found himself back in a Phillies uniform, and he made steady improvement.

In his next 22 appearances, he posted an ERA of 1.86 (6 ER, 29.0 IP). He allowed runs in just four of those games. He was the owner of a career-best 13-inning scoreless streak (11 outings). During that stretch, he walked just one, struck out 11 and had a batting average against of only .159.

He didn't quite keep up that pace for the rest of the 2011 season, but he never broke down. From June 7 until the year ended, Herndon posted a 2.18 ERA in his last 31 games. He walked 17 and struck out 34 in those 31 games.

No, Herndon wasn't going to be the end-all, be-all to build the bullpen around, but he wasn't as bad as many of you may think. Clearly, though, the Phillies have other plans, and they don't include Herndon.

With names such as Phillippe Aumont, Justin De Fratus and even possibly minor leaguer Ethan Martin, it's easy to see why the Phillies gave up on Herndon.

On a side note: Last week the Phillies also released reliever Tyson Brummett.